


Prince Karkat

by TheFirey_Gamer



Category: Homestuck
Genre: M/M, because why not, davekat - Freeform, homestuck au where Karkat is a prince
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2016-06-12
Packaged: 2018-06-08 06:02:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 12,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6841807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFirey_Gamer/pseuds/TheFirey_Gamer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karkat is a troll prince but one day when he awakens he calls out with a human name that he doesn't recognize, shenanigins ensue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

You shoot up from your bed, a name slipping from your lips before you can stop it.   
"Dave!" The troll pulling clothes from your closet looks up, startled. You look at her and slap a hand over your mouth. She raises an eyebrow at you, clearly interested.  
"Who is this Dave that you're talking about, Karkat?" She asks you, bringing a pile of folded clothes over and putting it on your bed. You pull back the covers and get up from your bed. You look over at the troll, Kanaya, and shake your head.   
"I have no idea. I don't think I've ever even met a Dave." You start changing and Kanaya turns away from you, to at least give you some privacy. You feel very comfortable around her though, she has been your friend since you were little. You've never liked calling her your servant, even if that's technically what she was. You finish dressing and put on the shoes that sat at the end of your bed. Kanaya turns back around and continues to talk to you.  
"You know, some trolls think that if you say the name of a troll that you don't know in your sleep its your soulmates name." You scoff.  
"Who says that? And that's impossible, you wouldn't know that." She shrugs,  
"I don't know, it was just something I heard once. It would be rather interesting to try and find this Dave fellow though, don't you think?"   
"What? I don't even know who he is, or if he's even important! My think pan might have just randomly spit out a name, that doesn't mean this Dave is my soulmate."   
"Maybe its a sign, someone trying to help you find 'the one." You roll your eyes, how ridiculous. You can't imagine that you would know the nane of your soulmate before you even met him.  
"And even if this Dave was my soulmate I could never be with him. He's a human, I'm a troll prince, it would never work." She shrugs again, leading you out of your room.   
"It was just an idea. I'm going to go to the library, will you come see me after breakfast?" You nod,  
"Of course, see you then." You smile at her, and she returns the gesture. You then go your seperate ways, her down the right hallway and you down the stairs to the left of your room. You walk through a large sitting room before you make it to the door that leads into the dining hall. You walk in, suprised that your father is not already sitting at the table. One of the trolls from the kitchen is still setting platters of food onto the large table and is startled when you walk in. He bows to you talking in a shaky voice,  
"Good morning, Prince Karkat. Its good to see you this morning." You nod to him, walking towards your normal seat.  
"And a good morning to you too, Tavros." He seems suprised that you remembered his name and bows to you once more.  
"I hope you enjoy your breakfast." He says quietly before scurrying back into the kitchen.

Its a few minutes before your father finally enters the dining hall, followed by two yellow-blooded trolls. The older troll is your fathers advisor, the younger one training to become yours, once you become king. You bow to your father as he enters and he returns a small bow back to you. He finds his seat and sits down and you sit down after him.   
"You're dismissed." He says and the two trolls bow before leaving the hall. Your father looks at you as he starts to fill his plate and speaks up.   
"Good morning son, you're in here early."   
"Yes, I guess I just woke up ealier than I nornally do." He finishes filling his plate and starts eating, which is your signal to start taking what you would like. Breakfast is eaten in almost complete silence, your father attempting to make small talk once or twice but it didn't really go anywhere. Your father finishes before you and excuses himself, wishing you a good day before departing from the hall. You finish quickly after and leave the hall, heading to the library.


	2. Chapter 2

You open the large doors to the library and step inside. There are two trolls, one sitting in front of a shelf sorting books, and Kanaya on the couch reading a book. They both look up and seem equally glad to see you. You smile and nod to Kanaya but walk towards the other troll. He stands up and hugs you.  
"Its good to see you brother, it feels like forever since I last saw you." You hug your brother tight, it has been awhile since you've come to see him. Despite it being near your room you don't seem to have time to ever come visit your brother in the library.   
"Its good to see you too Kankri. I'm sorry I have not been able to come and visit you recently, I've been quite busy lately." Your embrace ends and he nods at you.  
"I understand, preparing to become king is time consuming work but, I'm sure it will be worth it."   
"Well, I'm not sure if I'll be a good king." Kankri laughed and rolled his eyes at you.  
"You'll be a great king, I have no doubt in my mind that you'll make this kingdom amazing again. You just need to believe in yourself more, brother. If I didn't think you would be a great king, I wouldn't have given up the position." You smile at him, its always comforting to hear your brother say stuff like that.  
"Thank you, I do really appreciate hearing that from you and I'm sorry that dad..." you trail off, wishing you hadn't started saying that because you know he'll make you finish.   
"You're sorry that dad what?" He pushes, just like you knew he would.  
"I'm sorry that he," you struggle to find the right words. "I'm sorry about whatever dad said that made you not want to be king." There was complete silence for what felt like forever. You almost jump out of your skin when he suddenly starts laughing.   
"He didn't say anything that made me not want to be king, Karkat. I made the desicion by myself, and for reasons that had almost nothing to do with father." You sighed, glad to know he wasn't mad at you for saying that. "Well, it was nice of you to come visit and chat with me but I know you're probably actually here to see your best friend." You nodded, looking over at Kanaya and seeing that she was completely engrossed in her book. You turned back to your brother and hugged him once again.  
"I'm glad I could talk to you, I love you."  
"I love you too, and know that you can come talk to me anytime you need." You nodded, glad to have such a great brother.

You walked over to Kanaya, startling her when you sit down next to her. She put a marker into her book and set it down, turning towards you.   
"So, any ideas of where we should start looking for your soulmate?" She asked you, eyebrows raised. You scoff and roll your eyes.  
"I never said anything about actually going to try and find this 'Dave'. And even if I did, he's a human and I'm pretty sure Dave is a pretty common name for human males. In conclusion, it would be nearly impossible for me to find this guy so, I'm not gonna try."   
"What? You're not even going to try? Not even a little bit?" You shake your head, rolling your eyes (you seem to do that a lot).  
"When would I even have time? I have classes all day and basically no free time to look for this 'Dave', even if I wanted to." This time Kanaya rolled her eyes at you.  
"Well Karkat there's this wonderful thing called 'Night Time', where you can go outside and do stuff you would do during the day but, instead of it being light its dark. Sounds fun right?"  
"Oh shutup, I don't need your sass Maryam. Anyway, I have to go to my classes so, I'll talk to you later."   
"Then can we go out tonight and look around, just a little bit?" You sigh, getting up from the couch and walking towards the door.  
"Sure, if that'll make you happy."


	3. Chapter 3

Your classes are boring, as always, and it seems like forever before you're finnaly done. As soon as youre done you head to the dining hall, after you finish dinner you're free to do whatever you'd like. You walk into the hall to see your father already sitting at the table, he's normally always at meals before you. You bow to him and quickly take your seat, trying not to make eye contact with him. Its always been kinda awkward between you and your father since you were given the responsibility to be the next king and you're not sure why. You don't blame him, or Kankri, for it, you think it would probably be like this even if you weren't going to be king. You notice he isn't actually eating, just kinda pushing his food around his plate, and you are slightly conscerned. Suddenly he puts down his fork and looks up at you, scaring you slightly.  
"Am I a bad father?" The question also startles you, since you definitaly weren't expecting it. You sit there speechless for a second before responding.  
"What? What would make you think you're a bad father?" He looks away and you hear a sniffle, is he crying?  
"I just feel like I haven't been there for you or Kankri and that I could've done a much better job parenting you." He is full out crying now and you feel yourself tear up as well.  
"Well, maybe you haven't been there all the time but, you're a king. You have a kingdom to run and Kankri and I both understand that. You've been there just as much as you could and, that's what matters. Just because you can't spend 24/7 with us doesn't mean you're a bad father, you've done great so far, taking into account the circumstances." He looks back up at you.  
"Then why didn't Kankri want to be king?" You stand up and walk over to him, hugging him.  
"Kankri had his own reasons for not taking the throne and none of them are your fault. He loves you but I just don't think that was really his thing. You could always go down to the library and ask him yourself." Your father stops hugging you and wipes his tears.  
"Yes, you're right. I should go talk to him, that's the best thing I could do in this situation. Thank you, I'm glad that you could talk honestly with me." He starts to leave but as he gets to the door he turns around and looks at you again. "I love you, Karkat. I hope you know that." He then exits the hall, leaving you alone, standing by his un-finished food. 

After you finish some of your food you go straight to your room, hoping Kanaya's already there. To your satisfaction, she is. She looks at you as you open the door and walk into your room, closing it behind you.   
"Dinner went well?" She said, handing you a pile of clothing.  
"Yes,you could say that. Were you in the library when my father arrived?" She shook her head.  
"As I was leaving I saw him head there but I didn't see or hear anything. You sent him there, I'm asuming?" You start to change and she turns around, facing away from you.  
"Yes, he asked some questions about Kankri and I told him he could always go ask him himself and I guess he did."  
"That should keep them distracted though, they probably won't notice when we leave." You finish dressing and walk over to the mirror, looking at the outfit she chose for you. You're in all black except for a red cloak that she hands you.  
"Yes, hopefully and nice outfit choice, by the way. I think it looks good."  
"That is my job, to make you look good at all times." You laugh and put up the hood of the cloak. She puts up her own hood and looks out the window.  
"It's starting to get dark, we can leave now, if you're ready."   
"As ready as I'll ever be." You mumble to yourself and nod at her, heading to your balcony. You look down and suddenly realize how far down the ground is.  
"How are we going to get down?" You ask, looking back at your friend behind you. She smirks and you can tell she's planning something. You step away from the edge of the balcony just incase.   
"Well, the only real way down is to jump but, I'm having the feeling you don't want to do that." You shake your head. "Well then good thing I have this." She holds up a rope ladder.  
"Where did you get that?" She smirks, throwing one side off the balcony and securing the other side to the railling.  
"Let's just say I have a connection with someone who could supply me with it." She gestures for you to start climbing down and you do.   
"You didn't tell them what it was for, right?" She starts climbing down after you.  
"No but, there is only so many things you can do with a rope ladder, they probably figured it out." Before you know it you're on the ground and then Kanaya is standing next to you. You sneak around the guards on duty and leave the castle grounds before anyone sees you. You take a deep breath as you and Kanaya start to head towards the village and realize that this may have been a very bad idea.


	4. Chapter 4

You finnaly make it to the village and calm down slightly. No one has looked at you in anyway that may be alarming. You don't think anyone is really noticing you at all, and you're super thankful for it.   
"Where do you think this 'Dave' might be?" Kanaya asks you, pulling you aside and stopping in what looks like the village square.   
"I don't know, all I know is the guys name, nothing else. Maybe we should ask someone?" Kanaya looks around and spots someone, she signals you to wait there and walks over to them. You can't here what's going on but you see Kanaya talk, then the person shrugging and pointing to their right. Kanaya nods to them, probably thanking them, and returns to you.  
"He said that this 'Dave' is probably at the village pub. They gave me directins to it, shall we go?" You hesitate before nodding.  
"Ok, and even if we don't find this guy at least we got to see some of the village." Kanaya laughs at you and starts heading down one of the streets, making you jog slightly to catch up with her.   
"My goodness you are such a prince."

After what felt like hours of walking, though it was probably only a few minutes, you finnaly make it to the pub. Kanaya looks over at you, obviously telling that somethings wrong.  
"You nervous?" You shrug, then nod.  
"Yeah, I guess. I just don't want anyone to recognize me." She laughs at you again.  
"I honestly think everyone will be so drunk they won't even know that we aren't humans." You nod again, her laugh calming you down. You take a deep breath and then step forward, walking into the pub. You're automatically overwhelmed with the smell of alcohol and feel like you're going to throw up. Kanya grabs your arm and continues to walk farther into the pub, you have no choice but to follow her. She sits down at a small table and you sit down with her. She scans the area and then stands back up.  
"You sit here, I'm going to see if anyone knows where this 'Dave' is." You nod and she walks off, going up to the bar and chatting with some stranger. You look down at the table and look at your hands, you're shaking pretty badly. You look up, startled by the person suddenly taking a seat across from you. You stare at him and can't help but notice that he seems familiar. He has hair so blonde it almost white and is wearing these dumb glasses. They look like normal glasses, like the ones your brother wears occasianly, except they're tinted black. He smirks at you, noticing you staring at him.  
"Like what you see?" He finnaly speaks up, making you scoff and roll your eyes.  
"That was probably the lamest thing you could of said in this situation. There are literaly thoasands of ways you could of done that better." He laughs, throwing his head back.  
"Oh I'm sorry, Mister Romance, why don't you show me how I could've done that better." You roll your eyes again.  
"Oh, I dont know I mean, you could've actually introduced yourself. That would've been a good idea."  
"Well then, let me try again." He stands up, walks two feet away and then walks back and sits back down. "Hey, the name's Dave Strider, and you are?" You laugh and roll your eyes again, not even noticing that he said his name was Dave.  
"That's better, and my name is Karkat." You flinch slightly, realizing that you probably should've used a fake name. But he doesn't seem to notice, he just holds out his hand and you shake it.  
"Well nice to meet you. I haven't seen you around before, are you new to the area?"   
"You could, say that." You say,sitting back in your chair. He raises his eyebrows.  
"What does that mean?" You shake your head.  
"Nothing, nothing really." He shrugs.  
"Would you like me to get you a dr-" Dave is cut off before he can finish. The doors of the pub swing open, slamming against the wall. A large man walks in, making the entire pub go silent. You look over at Kanaya and see that she's already looking at you. Dave follows your gaze and then looks back at you.  
"Is that your friend?" He whispers to you and you slowly nod. "We need to get you out of here." He holds his hand out to you and you hesitate before taking it. He looks over at Kanaya and makes some small hand gestures at her and she nods. The man starts to walk over to the other side of the pub towards a small group of men, all dressed in green. Dave slowly gets up and you follow his lead. Kanaya gets up from her spot at the bar as well. You all slowly make your way to the door and quickly escape, just as the man starts yelling. Dave starts running, pulling you along with him and you realize you've never been more scared in your entire life.


	5. Chapter 5

You run for a few blocks before Dave stops, ducking into an alleyway and pulling you with him, Kanaya ducking in behind you. You put your hands on your knees and realize that you were not ready for that much running. You look up and see Kanaya panting as well, she doesn't look as tired as you though. Then you see Dave and he's still standing straight up, his breathing perfectly normal.  
"How..on Alternia..can you run..that much..without being..tired?" You say between breaths and he chuckles at you.  
"I do a lot of running." He gives you a few minutes to catch your breath and when you stand up once he speaks again.  
"We need to get you back to the castle, it probably wouldn't be smart for you to be out here any longer." Your eyes widen.  
"How did you know that I.." you stop midsentence and see him smirk.  
"You're a troll and you're name is Karkat, did you really think I wasn't gonna figure it out?" You don't say anything and you see Kanaya shrug. There is complete silence once again, and when Dave claps his hands together it startles you, making you jump slightly.  
"Geez, jumpy aren't we? Anyway its time to go, I'll escort you two back to the castle to make sure you make it back safely, ok?" You nod and so does Kanaya, neither of you saying anything. Dave peaks his head out of the alleyway, scanning the area before stepping completely out. He holds his hand out to you and you take it, letting him lead you, Kanaya following close behind you. 

By the time you're out of the village the moon is at the top of the sky, lighting your path. Even though you're on the road to the castle and you don't need to be lead anymore you're still holding Dvae's hand. It just feels so nice and natural that you don't want it to end. Kanaya is walking next to you, when she suddenly speaks.  
"Who was that man?" Dave tenses up and he holds your hand tighter.   
"They call him Lord English, he scams people out of their money. The men he sat down with are called The Felt, they're basically his henchmen." You can tell this is a touchy subject for him, even though you just met.  
"Why do you think he started yelling as we left?"  
"Another group, called The Midnight Crew were there, they're English's rivals. He must have seen them and started to throw a fit." You look to Kanaya as she's about to ask another question and you shake your head, trying to signal her to drop it. She nods and doesn't say anything else. 

You finaly get back to where the rope ladder is hanging down from your balcony, and Kanaya starts to climb up it. You're about to climb up the ladder but you look back over to Dave.  
"I came into the village to look for you. I mean, I didn't know it was going to be you specifically I just had your name in my head. I guess I said it when I woke up and my friend heard me so she decided we should look and I'm so glad we did." You smile and he smiles back.  
"I guess it was fate. And I'm glad you came looking too."   
"When can I see you again?"  
"How about tommorow night? I'll meet you at 8, if that's ok with you."  
"Yes, of course, I'm looking forward to it. I'll see you then. Goodnight." You bow to him and he bows back. And as you start to climb the later he speaks to you.   
"Goodnight, my prince." You look down but, he's already gone. You finish climbing the ladder, get into a pair of pajamas and fall asleep immediatly, excited for tommorow.


	6. Chapter 6

You wake up the next morning, excited for the evening. You quickly get dressed and head down to the dining hall for breakfast. You're surprised to see your brother there, sitting across the table from your father. You walk to your seat and they look up at you, your brother smiling. You smile back and take a seat, looking between your father and your brother. Did your father finaly invite him to eat meals with you again? They're both already eating and chatting so you help yourself to the food on the table. It startles you when your brother says something and your father laughs. He just laughed, you haven't heard him do that in a long time, and you can't help but smile. It feels so nice to be having a meal all together like a family again. Suddenly the doors open and your fathers advisor and his apprentice walks in.   
"Sir, I apologize for interupting but someone is here to see you." He bows and the young troll next to him does the same. Your father stands up and walks towards the door.  
"It was nice having breakfast with you two this morning, I will see you later." And after that he was gone, leaving you and Kankri in the hall. You look over to your brother,  
"What do you think that was about?" He shrugs, taking another bite of food.  
"I don't know, obviously someone important came, though. I'm sure its nothing." You nod and both of you go back to eating. You finish and excuse yourself from the table. You say goodbye to your brother and head out, going to your classes. 

You can barely focus during your lessons, all you can think about is Dave. Your teacher notices you're not really paying attention so she stops talking and walks to your desk. She pulls up a chair and sits down in front of you and this gets your attention.  
"What? Did you ask me a question Miss Dolorosa?" She shakes her head.  
"No, I just noticed that you're not really paying attention. Is something wrong? You can tell me and I swear I won't tell a soul." You contemplate telling her about Dave but, hesitate. What if she tells your father that you're sneaking out of the castle even though she swore she wouldn't tell anyone? You just can't take that chance so, you decide to say something else that is occupying your mind.   
"Its just that my father invited Kankri to eat meals with us again and then he left because someone came to visit him. I just really want to know who came, and why they were so important that he left our first breakfast as a family again to talk with them." She sighed, folding her hands and setting them on your desk.   
"I'm sure that he didn't want to leave but, he had to. I'm sorry that he left early but at least you got to spend some time all together."   
"Sometimes I don't understand him at all." She laughs slightly and puts a hand on your shoulder.  
"Sweetheart, I basically raised him and even I don't understand him sometimes. He's a complicated and busy man and the combination of the two can make it almost impossible to understand him. But know, he still loves you and Kankri, no matter what   
happens." You smile, stand up and hug her. She stands up as well and hugs you back.  
"Thank you, I really needed that."   
"Its no problem. Now, we need to get back to your lessons." 

After lessons and a quick meal you run up to your room. Kanaya is already in there but, somethings off. You close the door behind you and walk to her.  
"Kanaya, what's wrong?" She closes the door to the balcony and stands in front of it.  
"I don't know if you should go out tonight."   
"What? All this happened because you convinced me to go out, why are you stopping me now?" She looks back through the glass door.  
"What if you get attacked by Lord English? I could never live with myself if you got hurt because I let you go.  
"Kanaya, you remember Dave right? I don't think he's going to take me anywhere if he thinks Lord English might be there. And if we do happen to be near him, Dave thinks quick on his feet. I'll be ok, I promise." She nods and steps away from the door.   
"But, can you try to get home before midnight." You nod and the walk to your closet, looking for the perfect outfit.


	7. Chapter 7

Kanaya helps you pick out a outfit consisting of, a red top, black pants, black boots and your red cloak. She gets the rope ladder from its hiding spot under your bed. She does the same thing as the night before, throwing one side down and the securring the other to the railing. You say goodbye to her, promising you'll be home before midnight and climb down the ladder. Once you hit the ground someone grabs your hand and you almost start to scream but, a hand goes over your mouth.  
"Shhh, its ok, its just me." Dave whispers, taking his hand off your mouth.  
"You jerk! You scared the crap out of me! I thought you were kidnapping me!" You whisper, hitting his shoulder and he laughs quietly at you.  
"I'm sorry, next time I'll anounce my presence first."  
"Good. Now, where are we going?" He is still holding your hand and he starts leading you away from the castle and towards the high wall that surrounds it.  
"Well, first we have to get to the village and then we'll be going somewhere very special." He looks back at you and smirks, making your heart beat fast. You are then at the wall, the stone structure looming above you.  
"Can you climb?" He asks, which makes you scoff.  
"Of course I can! I've climbed this wall before." He shrugs and starts climbing.  
"Ok, meet you on top then." You climb after him, not going nearly as fast as him but, you're still able to climb it. You get to the top and he's sitting there, looking out towards where there are lights coming from the village. You sit next to him and he turns to you.  
"Wow, I can't believe you actually scaled the wall, I thought you just said you could do it cause you didn't want my help but, damn." You laugh,  
"Its not like this is my first time doing this, climbing to the top of the wall to look at the village." Dave looked confused,  
"Why? There's nothing in the village that's more interesting than your castle."   
"When you live there your entire life and only leave once or twice, anything outside is interesting." He shrugs, looking back towards the village and you two sit in silence for a minute. Suddenly he stands up, and offers his hand to you.  
"Do you trust me?" He asks, you take his hand and slowly stand up as well.   
"Yes, why?" He pulls you to him, and wraps your arms around his waist.   
"Then hold tight and close your eyes." You do as he says and you feel yourself fall off the wall. You burry your head in his chest, trying to ignore the fact that you're falling.   
"Ok, it's over, you can open your eyes now." You hesitately open your eyes and look up at his smirking face. You notice that you had landed on a large bush.   
"That was the worst thing I have ever experienced." You say and he laughs at you. He trys to get up but since you're laying on him he can't. You quickly apologize and get up, allowing him to stand up as well. He grabs your hand again and you start walking to the village. Your stomach hurts and you're sure its for multiple reasons.


	8. Chapter 8

After a long walk you finaly make it to the village, the lights, sounds and smells getting more intense the closer you get to the square. You let Dave lead you through the maze that is the village. He looks back at you and smiles, and then pulls you into the square, your senses bombarded. There are booths set up all around the large square and there are colorful lights hanging up everywhere. Some booths seem to be full of strange food that you've never seen before, others are selling miscellaneous items ranging from fabrics to small animals. In the middle of everything there seems to be a band playing, and a large group of people are dancing.   
"What is this?" You say, astonished.  
"This is the culture festival. People from all over the kingdom come here, just for this. They bring food and other things that are a big part of there culture for people of other cultures to buy. It happens every summer for an entire week, its pretty amazing." You nod, still trying to take in everything. Dave laughs and starts leading you once more.  
"Here, there's a certain booth I want to take you to." Still holding his hand you let him walk you through all the booths, there are so many that you're certain you would get lost by yourself. You stop in front of a booth and Dave starts talking to the person sitting inside. They are wearing orange robes with a large sun on the chest and a hood covering most of their face. They look up at Dave and smile, taking off their hood. Its a girl and she looks oddly a lot like Dave.   
"Karkat, this is Rose, she's my cousin." Well, that explains why they look alike. She holds out her hand and you shake it.  
"Nice to meet you, Karkat." She stops for a second, still holding onto your hand, you look over at Dave.  
"Don't worry, this is kinda her thing." You notice her staring straight forward and you turn around to try and see where she's looking. She let's go of your hand and turns around in her booth, searching through a large chest. She obviously finds what she's looking for because she holds it up and turns around, handing it to you. Its a necklace with a little charm on it.   
"You're aspect is blood, it represents relationships, allegiance, unity or actual blood." You look at Dave once more, still confused.   
"Figuring out your aspect is kinda an important thing in the village so, people normally come to Rose to get told what theirs is." You nod and look at her, she's smilling and still looking at you.   
"Well, thank you. That's really interesting actually, I've never heard of the whole aspect thing before."   
"Its my pleasure." 

After your kind of strange meeting with Rose you and Dave continue to explore the other booths. One in particular catches your eye so you walk up to it. A man is sitting surrounded by animals, mostly birds, in cages. He sees you walking towards his booth and stands up, obviously very excited.   
"Hello young man, my animals caught your eye, huh?" You nod, walking up to one of the cages, where a black bird sits inside, a crow, you think. He nods and walks over, smiling brightly. "Ah, so good old Tipp caught your eye?"   
"Do people normally have crows for pets where you come from?" You ask, and he laughs.  
"This is no normal crow, Tipp is specialy trained." Now you feel like he's tricking you.  
"Specially trained, how?"   
"Well, he can deliver mail, be a lookout, cause a distraction if you need one, he's a really smart bird, he could probably do anything you asked." You're still hesitant but you think he's probably telling the truth. "Here, I'll show you." He then takes Tipp out of his cage and puts him on his shoulder. He picks up a slip of paper and writes a song name on it before giving it to Tipp.   
"Go deliver this to one of the band members and then come straight back, ok?" The crow caws and then flys away. You wait, slightly wanting something to happen. You then hear the band stop and switch songs, and then Tipp is back on the mans shoulder. The man stands up tall, obviously proud of this bird. You reach into your pocket and give the man the amount he asks for and you take the bird with you.

You and Dave walk around for a few more hours before you make it to where people are dancing. You told Tipp awhile ago to fly to the castle and deliver a note to Kanaya and to stay there.  
"Stay right here." Dave says, and then he walks up to the band, talking to one of the members before returning. The upbeat song ends and a slow one starts playing, making everyone scramble around to grab a partner. Dave comes back to you and holds out his hand.  
"Would you like to dance?" He asks, you grab his hand.  
"Of course I would." He pulls you out to the floor and puts one hand on your waist and holds your hand in the other. You put your hand on his shoulder and he pulls you closer. You lean into him, letting him lead your movement. You're suprised that he is a really good dancer, though you probably shouldn't be because he seems to be good at everything. You continue to dance and slowly everything, except the two of you, seems to fade. Nothing matters in this moment, except for you, Dave and the music. You wish this could last forever, just the two of you, together. You look up at Dave, who is already looking at you. And as the music fades and the song ends he leans down and kisses you.


	9. Chapter 9

You wake up the next morning, happier than you've ever been waking up this early. Kanaya hands you clothing and you get dressed.  
"Someone's chipper this morning. Does it happen to have to do with a certain someone?" You nod, smiling wide.  
"I had such a great time, Kanaya. He took me to the village's culture festival and there was so much to do and see and I even meet his cousin, Rose. I feel like you'd like her. And before he took me home we danced and oh Kanya, I think I'm in love with him." She smiled at you but, she also seemed slightly sad. "What, what's the matter?" She shook her head,   
"Nothing, don't worry about it. You should be heading to breakfast." You nod,  
"Oh, yes of course. I'll talk to you later about it, bye." You headed out the door as she returned a quiet goodbye. You basically skip all the way to the dining hall. When you walk in your father and brother stop talking abruptly and look up at you. Your smile fades when you notice the looks on their faces. You slowly walk over to the table and sit down, looking between the two.  
"What? What's the matter?" They both look at each other amd then look down. Your father then speaks, not looking at you.  
"I didn't want to do this to you so soon but, I'm afraid it can't wait." You're even more confused, his statement not clearing up anything.  
"Do what?" Your father looks up at Kankri and he nods. Kankri then turns to you, clearing his throat.  
"The Condense, the ruler of the underwater kingdom wants to unite the two kingdoms." You suddenly realize what they're trying to tell you. "And to do that, she wants you to marry one of the princes or princesses of her kingdom." You shoot out of your seat, your blood boiling, you're furious.   
"That's who the visitor was yesterday, wasn't it! That sea witch came here and forced you to make me marry one of those seadwelling pricks!" Your father stands up as well,  
"Don't you dare raise your voice, young man! As the future king it is your duty to protect this kingdom and if that's means you have to marry someone you may not want to you will do it!"   
"There's no way I'm marrying one of those stuck-up seadwellers! I don't care why you want me to do it, I'm not going to be forced to marry any of them!" You continue to yell at your father, mad that everything could go so bad so quickly. Kankri stands up as well, slowly walking towards you.  
"Karkat stop." He tries to calm you down and reaches out his hand but, you hit it away.  
"Stay away from me! If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be in this position!" You can tell you really hurt Kankri as he steps back and slumps down in his chair.   
"Karkat, you are stepping way over the line. You have to do this, I know it's not pleasant but, this is for the good of the kingdom!" You can't stop yourself, you keep yelling louder and louder, everyone in the castle can probably hear you by now.  
"UGGGHHHHH! I DON'T CARE!" You kick over your chair and stomp out of the hall, yelling. You stomp up the stairs and into your room. You're so angry, the rage is taking over as you continue to yell and you start to throw things. After you've practically destroyed your room you fall onto the floor, feeling defeated, you start to sob. You get an idea and stop crying, grabbing a bag and filling it with clothes and things that you might need. You quickly write a letter and address it to Dave. When you finish you grab the rope ladder and go out onto the balcony. You give Tipp the letter, instructing him to take it to Dave and to stay with him, and off he flies. You use the rope to get down from your balcony and then yank on it until it comes lose and falls down to the ground. You pick it up and take it with you. You look around to make sure there are no guards and realize that there's no way you'll be able to escape by climbing the front part of the wall, like you've done before. You spot a tree next to the wall and get an idea, you go to it and climb up. Its just tall enough that you can get onto the top of the wall. On the other side there are more trees but, none of them are close enough so you just have to climb the other side of the wall. You make it down safely and start to head through the small forest in the direction of the village.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry


	10. Chapter 10

You trudged through the forest until it opened up and you were by the village. You walked through all the streets until you were in the square, all the booths and lights still there but less active. You tried to retrace the steps you took last night and finaly find yourself in front of Rose's booth once more. She looked up at you and once she realized who it was she took off her hood.  
"Karkat! I didn't think you were going to be visiting again so soon! What brings you here, what's troubling you?" You look around to see if anyones in earshot. There's not, everyone seems to still be sleeping or doing important things, the festival does seem more like a night event.   
"Where's Dave? I need to talk to him." Rose stands up from her booth, stepping out of it and walking up next to you. She's about to say something when a different voice speaks up.  
"Karkat, what happened?" You turn and see Dave walking out from an adjacent street. You run to him and hug him, starting to cry.  
"They're trying to.. force me to..." you can't finish your sentence as you start to sob. He holds you, running his hand through your hair.  
"Shhh, its ok. Everything will be ok, why don't you come back to my house and we can talk." You nod, still crying, he holds your hand and leads you down the street. You look back and see Rose quickly close her booth and then run to catch up to you two. 

After a bit of walking you're standing in front of a small house on a crowded street. Before you walk in Dave looks at you,  
"I just want to say that obviously this isn't a castle so, I'm sorry. And also my brothers can be a bit much so I'm sorry about that too."   
"You don't have to apologize, its not your fault and I'm sure your brother's are fine." He shrugs and then opens the door, leading you and Rose into the small living area. A man is sitting on a beaten up couch sewing, something. He looks up and you realize he's wearing the same kind of eye wear as Dave, dark-tinted glasses, it must be a family thing. He sees you and smiles then notices you're crying but, you know he's trying to be polite so he doesn't say anything. He gets up and walks over holding out his hand.  
"Why, hello there. You must be the Karkat Dave was talking about. Nice to meet you. " you shake his hand,  
"Nice to meet you too." your voice shaking. Rose waves at the man and he waves back at her.  
"How's your booth going?"   
"Good, as always. It seems everybody wants to know their aspect." Dave pulls you away as Rose and his brother continue to talk. He takes you up the stairs into a small hallway with three rooms. He's about to lead you into one when one of the other doors opens, another guy walking out. Again he's wearing the same kind of eyewear, its definitely a family thing.   
"Hey, I'm Dirk. Nice to meet you Karkat." He says and then walks back into the room and closes the door.   
"Like I said my brothers are kinda weird, sorry." He then opens the door and you walk into his room. Its small and only has a bed and a chair, Tipp perched on the back of it, but you feel more at home here than you do at the castle. He sits down on the bed and you sit down next to him.  
"What happened Karkat? Why did you run away?" You start to sob again and he reaches out for you and holds you.  
"My father wanted me to marry one of the princes or princesses of another kingdom and I just couldn't do it. We yelled at each other and then I stormed up to my room. That's when I knew what I had to do." He's running his hand through your hair again and you can feel yourself calm down.   
"I'm so sorry Karkat. I don't know what to say." But he doesn't have to say anything, him just being there for you is enough.


	11. Chapter 11

There's a knock on the door and it startles you awake. You look up and see that you're laying on Dave, your head on his chest. You don't know exactly when you fell asleep but it must have been when he was comforting you. You get up, allowing him to stand up and walk to the door. He opens it and his brother, who was in the living room earlier, is standing there. He holds up a piece of paper, Dave rips it out of his hands and pushes him out of his room before closing the door. You walk over, curious as to what this piece of paper is. It seems to be some sort of flyer, a big picture at the top with a block of text under it. You freeze when you realize who the picture is of. Dave turns around and hands you the flyer.   
"I can't really read all of it but I can tell they're offereing a lot of money for your return." The picture is of you, one your father paid someone to do, not that long ago. Under it gave more details about you and at the bottom read: Whoever can bring him back safe to the castle or can give information on his whereabouts will be rewarded handsomely. You sit back down on the bed, gripping the flyer.  
"I was a fool to think that I could escape them, they'll never stop looking for me," Tears start to fall down your face and you look up at Dave, who's staring at you. You get up and grab your stuff and put Tipp on your shoulder, "and if they find me here they might do something terrible to you. I'm sorry but I have to leave, you need to stay here and I need to go as far away as possible." You head towards the door but Dave grabs your hand.   
"Please don't leave me. I don't know what i'd do without you." You look at him and see tears rolling down his cheeks. You walk towards him and push up his glasses, his red eyes peircing and tearful. You wipe away his tears and also some of your own and smile at him.  
"I have to go, to ensure your safety I have to leave. I dont want to be the reason you or you're familiy gets hurt." You try to leave again but he pulls you back.  
"If you won't stay then I'm going with you." He looks around his room and shoves a few things into his pockets before walking back to you.   
"No, you'll be safest here, where I'm not." He grabs you and pulls you to him, kissing you.   
"I don't care where I'm safest, I want to be where I'm happiest and that's with you." The door opens and startles you, making you jump. Rose and Dave's brothers are standing there.   
"We apologize for intruding on an intimate moment but, we wanted to give you this." She offers what's in her hand to Dave, its a few coins, probably all the three could give. "Dave, if you'd like to leave with Karkat we're ok with that. We'll miss you dearly but, what is important is that you're happy." Dave hesitately takes the money and puts it into his pocket and then hugs all his family members.  
"Thank you so much, I'm sorry that I'm leaving but, I love Karkat and I need to go with him." Dave said, looking back at you and smiling.  
"Its ok, we want you to be happy, even if that means you have to leave." Dirk said playfully punching Dave's arm. Dave grabs your hand and you walk out of the room, his family stepping aside. You walk down the stairs and Daves oldest brother calls out.  
"I suggest using the back door, by the way." Dave thanks his brother and leads you out the back door. The door leads to a dark alley and he leads you down it. You're scared but holding Dave's hand makes it better.


	12. Chapter 12

You two manuever through the back alleys and dark areas of the village. You luckily avoid all people, probably because everyones at the festival. You make it to the edge of the village to a road heading away from it and away from the castle. You start down the road and when a forest starts getting thicker around it Dave leads you into it. You walk for what feels like hours before you stop, its getting dark and Dave thinks you should at least rest a little. You try to convince him that you need to keep moving but he wants you to sleep, even if its only for an hour. You agree begrudgingly, laying down on the forest floor. He lays down next to you and pulls you onto him, it doesn't take long before you fall asleep.

You have an amazing dream where you and Dave make it to another village and build a life for yourselves there. You're enjoying it when you get jerked awake and when you open your eyes you're on the forest floor. You shoot up, looking around for Dave. You call out for him but, you don't hear a response. You hear a noise behind you and whip around to see a bright green blur flash behind a tree. You remember the men from the pub and you begin to panic. The Felt is here which means, Lord English is probably here too. You hear a yell, coming from somewhere behind you so, you run in that direction. As you're running someone steps into your path, you can't stop in time, you end up running into them and it knocks you off your feet. You look up and see a giant man in bright green and he's wearing a white hat with a red stripe down the middle. He picks you up by your arm and starts dragging you somewhere. You struggle to escape his grip but, he's way bigger that you, there's no way for you to overpower him. He pulls you into a small clearing and throws you to the ground in front of him.   
"Found him." He growls and you look up to see who he's talking to. A very large man stands in the middle of the clearing and, unlike the other men surrounding him, he's wearing dark green. Somehow you have found yourself in the presence of Lord English and the Felt, again. You gasp as you see Dave, beaten and bloodied on the ground behind English. He sees you and tries to smile at you but, you can tell he hurts badly.   
"Let him go! He didn't do anything!" Lord English turns towards you and laughs. His laugh booms, echoeing through the forest.   
"Oh, but he did do something, something that he doesn't want you to know about." You look at Dave and he looks horrified,  
"Stop! English stop! Please no!" Dave calls out and one of the Felt members kicks him. Lord english laughs again, the sound sending a shiver down your spine.   
"What do you mean?" He smirks, obviously enjoying every last second of this. Dave yells out again, getting kicked again and you can't help but call out in pain with him.  
"He made a deal with me, he does a little errand for me and I do a favor for him." Dave is crying now and you're really starting to wonder what this deal was. You don't say anything and English takes it as his permission to speak once again. "The ransom of a prince for the wellbeing of his family, heart warming, really." You can feel yourself tearing up, he can't possibly be saying what you think he's saying, right?  
"I don't understand." You choke out, causing him to laugh again.  
"I put that name in your head boy, I guess I didn't account for your little lady friend but, we still had a plan. He kidnaps you, brings you to me and I put up a large ransom for your safe return but, it seemed he decided not to follow the plan." You look at Dave and see he's straight up sobbing but, for some reason, you can't bring yourself to be sad for him. After everything you had been through, it was all a plan. He never really loved you, he was using you to get what he wanted and when Lord English told you he was taking you back to the castle, you didn't argue or yell, you just went with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I'm sorry.


	13. Chapter 13

You look up at your father as he continues to yell at you. You see his mouth moving but you don't know what he's saying, and you can't bring yourself to care. You look over and see your brother staring at you. You remember what you said to him before you left and feel bad. Your father clears his throat and you look over at him, he stopped talking, does he want you to say something?  
"Well, Karkat? What do you have to say for yourself?" Oh, that's what he wanted.  
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything I have said and done in the last 24 hours, I was being childish and was not thinking about anyone but myself." Your father seems satisfied, and you're glad that's all it took.   
"We're having The Condense, her husband and the children over for dinner tonight and I expect you to be well behaved. You'll have a chance to decide who you would like to marry." You think about Dave and wonder where he is right now. No, you're not doing this, he never loved you and he was faking it because it was all apart of their dumb plan. You nod to your father,  
"May i be excused then?" He nods, letting you get up from the table and leave the hall. You go straight up to your room, not surprised that Kanaya is already there. As you step in she bombards you with a million question and you don't bother to answer one. You close the door, walk past her and sit down onto your bed. She stops talking and walks over to you, sitting down besides you. She puts her hand on your shoulder and you can't take it anymore, you burst into tears and tell her everything. She pulls you into a hug, trying to calm you down.  
"That's terrible Karkat, I'm so sorry." You suddenly remember something.  
"I don't know where Tipp is, they probably killed him." The thought of it made you start to cry even harder. 

You spent the rest of the day in your room, falling in and out of restless sleep. Around six o'clock Kanaya came in to help you get ready for dinner. She picked out the nicest outfit in your closet and you absentmindedly put it on. When you're ready, you trudge down the stairs and to the dining hall doors. You stand in front of the door, fixing your posture amd trying to put a happyish look on your face before you walk in.   
"He really i- Oh! There he is! Say hello, Karkat!" Your father gestures to you and his guests stand up from their seats on the right side of the table, your father and Kankri on the left. You bow to the seadwellers, who are towering above you and they bow back. You make your way to the left side of the table and sit down next to Kankri. As you sit down so does the family across from you. You assume the two largest trolls are The Condense and her husband, Dualscar. In the middle of them are four younger troll, two girls and two boys.   
"Hello, I'm Karkat." The young trolls smile and one of the girls speaks up, her voice sounds nice and cheery.   
"Hello! I'm Feferi, this is my sister Meenah, and my brothers Eridan and Cronus." She gesture to each of her siblings in turn and nod at each of them. "We're honored to finnaly meet you." She says, smiling widely at you.  
"As am I, I'm glad that we will soon be joining our kingdoms together." 

Dinner went slowly, it felt like it would never end. Everyone was eating, joking and laughing like they were all old friends seeing each other again after a long time apart. Cronus seemed to take a liking for your brother so, you decided that probably wasn't a good choice. Eridan was pissy and rude the entire night so you decided there was no way that was going to happen. Meenah scared you, everything about her was intimidating and you didn't really want anything to do with her. The only other option was Feferi, she seemed nice and was probably the best choice in this situation. You let yourself think of Dave again, and find yourself wondering if he's ok. You try not to think about him but, you can't help it. Even after everything, even after finding out the truth you were still in love with him. Your train of thought gets scattered when you notice Kankri and Cronus. You can tell that they are flirting with each other and that gives you an idea.


	14. Chapter 14

Its almost midnight before the guests finaly leave and you can talk to your brother privately. You go up to his room and knock on the door, hoping he's still awake. He opens the door and invites you into his room, closing the door behind you.  
"What's troubling you, Karkat? Are you trying to decide who's the best match for you?" You sigh, sitting down at your brothers desk, he sits down on his bed.  
"Listen, what would you say if I, hypothetically speaking, let you marry Cronus to unite the kingdoms?" Your brother is shocked, its a few minutes before he says anything.  
"Can we do that? Hypothetically speaking, of course." You shrug,  
"I'm not sure, they, might want the future king to marry one of them but," you pause, "You know what forget it, I don't want to force you into a situation that you're uncomfortable in. That would be selfish on my part, you don't want to do that and I shouldn't try to force you into it just so I don't have to do something." Your brother sits there, not saying anything, just staring down at his hands.   
"You were right you know."   
"Right? Right about what?" He sighs and looks up at you, tears streaming down his face.   
"I put you into this position, its all my fault. I was being a coward and quit when things seemed hard and I put you into a bad position. And now you can't be with who you really want to be with and its all because of me."   
"Wait, how do you know about Dave?" He chuckles,  
"I was in the library when you mentioned him and then today I asked Kanaya for the whole story." You remember the day when you were in the library and realize that of course Kankri heard you talking, he's not deaf.   
"What do you mean you were being a coward?"   
"I shadowed father one day, to see what it would be like to be king and he had to make so many difficult decisions that, it scared me. I didn't want to have to be in that position so, like a coward, I quit and left the hard decisions to my younger brother." You walk over to your brother and sit down next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. He looks up at you, wiping his eyes. "Karkat, can I ask you a question?" You nod, "Do you really want to be king?" You sit for a second, thinking about what you were going to say. You had never really thought about it before then and you were surprised by your own answer.  
"No, I really don't." Kankri nodded, standing up and heading out the door.  
"Then I have to fix this, the only way I can." And just like that, he was gone and you were left alone in his room.


	15. Chapter 15

After Kankri left, you went back to your room and are now sitting on your bed , talking to Kanaya when your father walks into your room, Kankri trailing close behind.  
"Do you really not want to be king?" He asks you, and you burst into tears.  
"No, I really don't. I dont know if I'm cut out to be a great king. I think Kankri would be much better at it." Kanaya comforts you and your father stares in disbelief, running his hand through his hair.   
"Well, its not going to be easy. We'll have to announce that Kankri will be stepping up to become king and who knows how everyone will react to that." You wipe your tears.  
"What? You're actually going to let him do it?" Your father continues to talk, like you didn't even say anything.  
"And we'll have to inform The Condense that Kankri will marry one of her children and not Karkat and who knows how that will go." You look at Kankri, he smiles at you, and you mouth a thank you to him. He returns it with a head nod.   
"Well, Kankri you might want to prepare some sort of speech to give when we inform the public tommorow so, think about that." He's about to leave when he turns back towards you. "Oh, and Karkat, I don't care if you want to be with that human boy Kankri told me about, I'm ok with it." Your father leaves muttering things as he walks away.  
"You told father about Dave?" You look up at Kankri and he nods.  
"I wanted to make sure he was going to let you be with him." You then thought about Dave,  
"Dave! Oh god I don't know if he's ok or not! I have to go now, I have to make sure he's ok!" Kankri nodded,  
"I understand but, please take one of the guards with you. Here, go get Equius, you're ok with him right?" You nod getting up and walking with Kankri, down the stairs.  
"Why don't I inform father where you're going, just so he knows." Kankri said, heading in the direction of your fathers study.  
"Yes, of course, thank you. I will see you later." You get to the front door and exit the castle, automatically getting stopped by guards.   
"I'm sorry Prince Karkat but we can't let you leave." You ignore the large troll and call out to Equius. He turns around and walks up to you.  
"Yes sir?"   
"I need you to accompany me to the village, there's someone I need to see."  
"Can't it wait till morning, sir?" You shake your head, walking towards the horse stables. Equius gets in front of you and brings out your horse and gets one of the guard horses. You hop up onto your horse, with the help of Equius and you two are on your way. You make your horse go as fast as it can and before you know it, you're at the entrance to the village. You jump off your horse and Equius does as well, taking both horses by their leads. He finds a place to store them and you pay the worker to take extra good care of them. You basically run through he streets of the village until you're at the square, the festival still in full swing. You're scanning the crowds, recognizing some booths and slowly finding your way to Rose's. You're releaved to see her there but, she's with some costumers and you don't want to ruin that for her so, you run down the street that you remembered Dave taking you down. Equius is going as fast as he can to keep up with you but he's starting to fall behind slightly. You turn down a street and recognize it immediately, the buildings only inches apart from each other. You scream and duck as something flies at your head and Equius prepares to fight something. Then you hear a familiar caw, and you can't help but be excited.  
"Tipp!" You yell excitedly, letting him land on your shoulder. "You've been with Dave this whole time? Well at least you're safe, now c'mon.' You run down the street, trying to remember which one it was. Tipp caws at you when you pass a house so, you stop and walk up to its front door and knock. You hear muffled voices, then shuffling feet and then Dave's oldest brother opens the door.   
"Hello?" He says rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he's not wearing his glasses and it kinda surprises you. Equius stands behind you, slightly confused about what's going on.  
"I need to see Dave, I need to know he's ok." You say and then he suddenly realizes who you are.  
"Karkat! Its good to see you! Come in, come in." He ushers you and Equius into the small living room. Its pitch black in the house but you can just make out a figure trying to sit up from a laying position on the couch.   
"Karkat?" A scratchy voice calls out to you, and it breaks your heart. You feel tears starting to fall and you quickly go to Dave's side. You reach out and find his hand, holding it carefully, just in case his injuries are super bad.  
"Are you ok? I'm so sorry, I should've stopped them." He chuckles, squeezing your hand.  
"No, I'm sorry. I should've told you what was going on once I realized that I had actually fallen in love with you, please don't be mad at me." His brother then walked in with a lantern and set it on the small table by the couch and then left, gesturing Equius to follow.  
"I could never be mad at you, even when I told myself I had to be because of what happened I couldn't bring myself to do it, not for long. I love you too much." He let's go of your hand and turns away.  
"But we can't be together, you have to marry to unite the kingdoms." You smile and can't stop yourself from laughing. He looks at you, clearly confused.  
"Kankri stepped back up, he's going to be king which means, he's marrying one of the seadwellers, not me." Dave smiles, laughing with you, pulling you into a hug. He flinched, it obviously hurt him to hug so you just lightly kissed him instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's only one chapter left, I hope you've enjoyed this story and thank you for reading.


	16. Chapter 16

Its a year later and you're walking around the culture festival with Dave. You cant believe its been a year since everything started. In the short period of time Kankri was coronated and is now ruling over the kingdoms with his loving husband, Cronus. While Cronus can be a bit strange he is perfect for Kankri. You look over and see the two at Rose's booth, astonished by her abilities. You smile and subconsciously squeeze Dave's hand. He looks at you and smiles as well, squeezing your hand. You look around and see all the people laughing, talking and eating in the square. Dave laughs and points to where Dirk is, at the booth where you bought Tipp a year ago. He's attempting to flirt with the young man sitting at the booth. Roxy is there, Rose's sister, and she's trying to be Dirk's wingman but obviously neither of them are good at flirting.  
"That's Jake, he comes here every year with his grandpa and little sister. Dirk is determined to make him like him but, I think he already does." You watch them a second and nod, Jake definitely likes Dirk but he just can't tell. Dave's oldest brother is standing with a tall woman, who you now know as Rose's mother, and chatting. Your father is there as well, though you notice he's not adding too much to the conversation, you know most of the time he really only likes to listen to them talk. You look around and notice how different the festival is this year, there are so many more trolls, landdwelling and seadwelling. There are booths run by trolls now, last year there was none, or maybe there was one but you didn't see it. You hear the band switch songs to a slow one, the same one Dave requested last year. You look over and see a certain crow sitting on one of the musicians shoulders. You look at Dave, you smile at each other and you lead him to the floor. You fall into the same routine as last year, his hand on your hip, your hand on his shoulder, holding each others free hand. As you dance memories of the past year floats by you, reminding you of all the good times. The slow song ends and a faster one starts, and you and Dave switch to the new dance. You couldn't be happier.

You're at the festival till late, walking back home with Dave well past midnight. Before you know it you're back at the wall that you had to climb over to see Dave a year ago. He starts to climb it and it makes you laugh.  
"What are you doing?" He looks down at you.  
"For old times sake?" You nod and start climbing the wall after him. He's surprised when you pass him, beating him to the top.  
"Geez, took you long enough." You teased when he got to the top a few seconds after you. He sat down next to you staring out at the village, the colorful lights seemed to be even brighter than last year. You lean on him and put your head on his shoulder, and he starts talking to you.  
"When we met a year ago I didn't think I was going to fall in love with you but, it happened. It was surprising and sudden but when it happened I realized it felt... right. Like this was how everything was supposed to happen, and even after some hardships I was so glad it had all happened the way it did. Because if even one thing went differently I don't know if we'd be together today." He's rambling slightly and it comforts you, his voice is soothing, and he continues to speak. "I was so glad when you came to see me that night, even though it was like midnight and I'm sure you probably wanted to be asleep, I appreciated you coming. That's when I knew, I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you." He turns towards you, making you sit up and he pulls something out of his pocket. "Karkat, will you marry me?" You feel yourself start to cry, he's holding out a ring, you nod hugging him. You're both laughing and crying and he slips the ring on your finger.   
"Your father gave it to me, he wanted it to be the ring I used." You look down at the ring and realize why he wanted Dave to use it, it was the ring your father had given a woman he had loved but, she had to leave him, leaving the ring behind. You hear a flutter of wings and Tipp is perched on your shoulder, a note in his mouth. You take it out and read it, CONGRATULATIONS is written in bold black lettering and everyones signature was on it, from the swoopy cursive of your fathers, to the blocky letters of Dave's brother, Dirk. You show it to Dave and he laughs, folding it and putting it in his pocket. You lean into Dave kissing him, Tipp flying away from your sudden movement. You both laugh and you realize you wouldn't want it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, happy endings! Everyone likes those, right?


End file.
